Dude Who Flew Drone Into California Firefighting Plane Found And Punished

Damage to the wing of a  "Super Scooper"
firefighting plane after a drone collided with
the plane as it was fighting last month
s big wildfires in California. 

 The person whose drone collided with a firefighting aircraft during the devastating January California wildfires has been caught.  

It's hard enough to fight basically uncontrollable wildfires in the age of climate change, and looky loos flying tones make it worse.

In this case, a man flying a drone ended up crashing it into a firefighting plane. The incident grounded the plane for days due to damage to its wing. 

According to the Associated Press: 

"Peter Tripp Akemann faces up to one year in prison, and a judge will determine his sentence, acting U.S. attorney Joseph McNally said. As part of the plea agreement, he will have to complete 150 hours of wildfire-related community service and pay $65,000 in restitution for the damage to the plane, McNally said."

He can probably afford the fine, which allowed Akemann to avoid jail time. He is a co-founder of Call of Duty studios.

 Akemann launched the drone from a Santa Monica parking structure on January 9.  It flew about 1.5 miles  toward the fire in Palisades, California, but then he lost sight of it. Which is a no-no. The drone crashed into what is known as a Super Scooper that was carrying two firefighters

The airspace were Akemann's drone was flying was under FAA flight restrictions at the time, theregister.com reported.

These Super Scooper planes, from Quebec are piloted so they skim the surface of a lake or ocean, where they scoop up about 1,500 gallons of water. Then the planes fly over the wildfire to dump the water on the flames.  It's pretty fascinating to watch. 

After the collision, the Super Scooper pilot was able to land the plane safely, but it was grounded for several days to repair a hole in the left wing caused by the drone. 

Prosecutors said Akemann did not intend to cause the collision. But, as Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI Los Angeles Field office said, "Lack of common sense and ignorance of your duty does not shield you from criminal charges." 

In a statement to media. Akemann's defense attorney, Glen Jonas said Akemann is "deeply sorry for the mistake he made" and "accepts responsibility for his grave error in judgement.

Even so, as theregister.com reported, "Akemann's attorneys tried to lay some of the blame at the feet of drone maker DJI for not properly geofencing the area to prevent the flight.

The fateful flight occurred days before DJI announced it was scaling back geofencing restrictions in favor of simply notifying drone pilots that they were operating in restricted airspace."  

It's unclear whether DJI had begun doing that scaling back process when Akemann launched his drown.